Liquid Sky PV Stelle

Stelle's remained motionless for a few seconds, her breath still ragged from running. The wind continued to tangle her golden curls, and the rain fell with an almost poetic obstinacy, soaking her already heavy uniform. Yet none of that seemed to matter in the face of the spectacle unfolding before her eyes. The lake was not the same one she had known under the sun. It was a different creature. The waves breathed like the chest of a sleeping giant, and the water seemed to swallow the sky in an immense watercolor of grays and silver. Each flash of lightning illuminated that immensity for an instant, revealing mountains of water that vanished again into the curtain of rain. There was something profoundly terrifying about that beauty, a kind of loveliness that didn't ask to be understood, but rather contemplated with the reverence one gives to the ancient gods. Stelle felt her heart beat with an eerie calm.

"It's beautiful..." she whispered, almost as if afraid of breaking the spell with a voice too loud. For a moment, she forgot the cold, the mud clinging to her boots, and the long walk they had taken just to satisfy a shared curiosity. Pam's question made her chuckle softly. She turned to face her with a warm smile as a few drops of water trickled down her eyelashes.

"I think so," she said, glancing back at the rippling surface. "If I were a giant squid, I'd choose stormy days to go for a stroll. No one could see me in all that rain... and I'd have the whole lake to myself." For a moment, she imagined those enormous tentacles moving beneath the dark waters, invisible from the shore, following the rhythm of the waves as if they too were dancing with the storm. She took another step closer to where the water kissed the flooded land. The wind lifted the edge of her cape as if to push her toward the lake, but Stelle remained steady, her hands clasped behind her back, her eyes lost on that nonexistent horizon.

"You know what I like most?" she asked, without taking her eyes off the water " The lake isn't trying to be pretty today. It's not calm, nor does it reflect the sky like in fairy tales. It's raging... and yet it's still beautiful." Her words were almost immediately lost in the roar of the wind. She inhaled deeply the scent of rain and wet earth, letting the cool air fill her lungs.

"It was totally worth coming all the way here, don't you think? Even if we catch a cold for a whole week afterward. I think I'd still say yes again." And without taking her eyes off the lake, it resonated like someone who has just captured a memory they know they will cherish forever.